Aging Challenges

 So in the last year I have had a couple of concerning medical issues regarding my eyes.  

I do have a chronic condition which has resulted in dry eyes and some uveitis, but have not had problem in a few years now (knock on wood).  

So last year developed a sudden large floater in R eye.  Went to my normal eye Dr - he sent me to retinal specialist.  Was told I had Posterior Retinal Detachment.  Was told this was a normal thing that sometimes happenes to people as they approach 60 (I have a few years, yet, till 60).  As we age, the gel substance in our eyes dries out and can pull from retinal.  In my case, it caused a tear.  

I had that lasered and seems to be doing ok.  The large floater is still there, along with several smaller ones.  They seem to be less noticeable, but will never go away.  Bright sky and computer screen makes it more noticeable and prevalent.  My eyes get tired and I feel like I am struggling to see.  My focus is a challenge.  

Well, I had quarterly and monthly follow ups all last year with the specialist.  They pointed out my tear laser (weld) was doing fine and all the blood in my eye cleared up.  My pressure is fine and my macula look fine (my father and paternal grandmother both had glaucoma and macular degeneration - my grandmother surgery both eyes, legally blind by her 80's or 90's).  

As the year went on, I learned it has also developed in my L eye - but no tear.  Thank goodness for that.

So my last follow up was last week.  Now I am getting what is called Epiretinal Membrane on one eye, which will likely happen in both eyes.  The specialist said that "not if, but when" I will need eye surgery to correct.  He relayed the information very blase - like it was what he was having for lunch and then left the room.  I felt like I had more questions and want to know if there is anything I can do in the meanwhile.  He is not even wanting to see me until next year.  So that is good.  

So for now, I am doing a little of my own research into what this all means for me.  What I should be doing.  Supplements?  Is working long hours looking at a computer screen hurting me more?  Should I consider retirement, etc.  

My mind is whirling.

January

 I am sitting in my home office, which is the northern-most guest room of my house - it is freezing!  6 degrees.  We were so lucky last week to have been able to fly to see our friends down in Tampa.  It was a very quick trip - Friday to Monday.  But it was a nice break from the cold.  

Our friend J has a Christmas tree burning party each year in January.  He collects about 80-100 trees and we enjoyed the bonfire, white chili and hot chocolate.  It was a real nice weekend.  The last time we made it down was about 5 years ago right after DH retired.  

This past weekend my niece stayed at our house with our dogs.  We were really concerned about the winter store all over the country, but we were very lucky and not affected.  The walk from long term parking (no shuttle?!) was about .2 miles and it was brutal wind.  So, of course we had our coats and all our warm gear all the way to Florida.  When we got back on Monday, DH truck had snow and some ice on it - well, we realized in Florida - no ice scraper!  Ha.

Anyway, while in Florida my friends took us to Siesta Key, beach near Sarasota - my first time to go there.  Was really beautiful.  It stayed about 58 degrees the 4 days we were there.  It was sort of overcast on Sunday when we went to the beach, but the sun was trying to peek out and the rain held off.  There were people walking on the beach - most bundled it in coats and long pants, but a few in shorts and barefoot.  

I could not believe how many pretty shells!  SO many.  And colorful!  Gorgeous.  Since we flew a economy airline, all we could have was one small carry on - so no shells collected by me.  Darn.  I would have loved to collect some for our lake condo.  Oh well, guess I will just have to get some next time!

It was all over the news the really cold Chief v Dolphins game last weekend.  It was like -10 degrees in KC Sat night.  We could not see the game unless we were Peacock subscribers, so we just kept checking the score.  People I knew were there posting photos of peoples beers and drinks freezing and running out over the top.  Crazy!

Well I hope you are staying warm and safe where you are and your 2024 is off to a great start.  Namaste.

2024

I loaded the blogger app on my phone to see if it woul make me blog.  But it tedious typing this way, so probably not. 

I used to blog regularly starting in approximately 2017, but I had a job where I could quickly do an entry here or there.  

Then I retired for about 6 months...decided I was not quite ready and went back to work.  Since my husband retired and we moved to the next state, I had to get a different job.

My first job was remote and involved 2 years of mandatory 60 hour weeks..  Then they promptly laid a bunch of us off after the pandemic work leveled off.

Now I am back in a field I left years ago, again 100% remote and the learning curve was steep.  I am now almost 18 months in and just starting to feel like I can manage this workload for at least 3 more years.

At least it's easier to add photos this way, so I am going to try to at least do a post every so often.

I started the new year with a hike which makes me happy.

So here's to 2024!